Who's had an 'overweight' baby and if so, what did you do about it? (Long, sorry)

[LolaLadybird]

DS is 10 mo and weighs 26lbs. He is near the top of the weight chart whilst only being 50th centile for height.

Last wk I took him for a weigh-in and we have a new HV. She said she was concerned about the discrepancy in his height/weight and suggested I see the GP. She said assuming everthing was fine I should then go back to see her to discuss portion control. I saw the GP - no medical problem but he confirmed DS is overweight, nothing to be alarmed about but something to watch.

I showed the HV how much I feed DS as I had his lunch with me and she said it was a normal amount, not excessive. Also I feed him the same as I did DD at the same age - she is now 3, slim and was never a big baby. DH and I were both fat babies but turned into slim healthy children when we got moving so I think DS has just lucked out with genes. Also, he is not yet crawling so not burning much off.

I'm going back to see HV on Tues but have made some tweaks to DS' diet in the meantime on her suggestion which has left him hungry, grumpy and waking up unhappy over an hour earlier in the morning. (He is normally v happy, v smiley and wakes up cheerful).

DH thinks it's a lot of fuss over nothing and I have friends who have been less than complimentry about HVs preoccupation with weight but obviously I want to do the best for DS. I'm just after some reassurance and wondered if anyone else had had something similar.

PS. Thank you if you're still reading!

[misdee]

thats dd2. she was over 30lb at a year old.

yes she was tall as well but very big all over.

[LolaLadybird]

Cute pics, Misdee (and poor DD3 and her fingers!). The 'obese baby at 9 mths' pic bears some resemblance to DS ...

Like all the poster's pics, these have made me feel better!

[misdee]

lola, please just look at my pics on profile on 'obese baby'

[LolaLadybird]

So to update you, I went back to the HV today for our discussion about portion control with a v sceptical look on my face. To be fair, she was v nice and v realistic and understood that I couldn't change his intake much as it will leave him hungry. She also agrees that the weight will probably drop off once DS starts moving. However, the main messages seemed to be to give him several small meals a day rather than 3 big ones so that his blood sugar doesn't do a big dip (but I pretty much do this already with meals plus 2 snacks) and to give him low GI food that is going to fill him up and keep him fuller for longer. DS loves fruit but she said I should err towards carbs rather than fruits to fill him up and as the fruits contain sugars. Makes sense to me but an interesting point given that the last HV that I saw in the Spring advised to keep carbs fairly minimal as they can be absorbed into the liver and cause problems as an adult. Confused, moi?! .

So the upshot of all of this is that I'm basically going to be feeding DS just as I was before I had the pleasure of the 2 trips to the HV and one to the GP. The words 'storm in a teacup' definitely come to mind!

Thanks everyone for your posts & reassurance.

[ClaireBlair]

My DS was a right chubster. I had to go to the paediatrician at the hospital for other issues so I mentioned his weight but she said that they don't worry until kiddies are about 2, and as long as I wasn't giving him junk then not to be concerned. DS was late to crawl and walk but since then has shot up in height and not gained much weight. He's still in about the 85%ile for weight but is the same for height now too, at nearly 3. They really do change shape once they start walking.
I think your HV is a menace trying to put a 9mth old on a diet! I mean even for older toddlers the advice is generally just to try to increase activity rather than decrease calories (provided the diet is balanced and healthy).

[LolaLadybird]

Thanks Nelly. I've heard quite a lot of 'can't win' stories from friends in the last few days as regards HVs and weight. My SIL has 2 girls now in their early twenties (and both v slim) - she said with the first, the HV gave her a hard time about her being underweight and then 21mths later, was saying the very opposite about DD2. Like you, that was the point at which she decided enough was enough and to follow her own instincts.

I was a huge baby (I've seen the pictures!) until I started walking and my mum said she went through exactly the same with me, then once I walked it melted off.

You are so keen to do the right thing as a parent that it's easy to get caught up in 'concerns' about your DC's weight but I think I need to remember that I'm an intelligent 30-something woman who knows how to feed her baby healthily - thank god DS isn't my PFB or I'd probably be in right old state!

[NellyTheElephant]

Glad you are feeling happier about it. I find the weight thing re babies makes me MAD!!! DD2 was fairly small at birth (6 lb 12oz) and DD2 even smaller (6 lb 1 oz), with DD1 the HV made me really stressed - I bf and was basically demand feeding but DD1 didn't feed that often and slept through 12 hrs a night at 8 weeks and the HV kept telling me I should be waking her at night to feed which I thought was crazy, and ignored, as she was gaining weight well and clearly flourishing, but it stressed me. Suffice it to say by 5 / 6 months when I started weaning her she was ENORMOUS (despite the HV stressing me out by telling me I wasn't bf her enough!), literally as wide as she was tall and well over 90th centile, once weaning was established she just got bigger and bigger, so there I was stressed out again by the HV for my baby being to big. You can't win! Of course she started walking at 11 months, had a huge growth spurt and slimmed right down within 6 months. Now rising 4 she is tall, strong, slim and incredibly active.

With DD2 in the first week or so on those initial home visits the HV started stressing me again about how small she was and how I should be waking and feeding her every 2 hours (which she clearly didn't want) so I made a conscious decision to ignore her and never go and see her or get the baby weighed by her again. DD2 was soon a gorgeous chubby baby (although never quite as vast as DD1!), and again she slimmed down enormously once she started walking.

Try not to let it worry you. Lots of babies get very chubby before they start walking.

[LolaLadybird]

Thanks everyone. Really glad I posted on this because you've definitely helped put my mind at rest. You've basically echoed everything my friends & family have said (although you sometimes wonder if they're being nice because they're biased!).

I'll go and see the HV tomorrow and listen to what she has to say and then make my own judgements - at the end of they day, I'm not prepared to let DS go hungry. I've cut down his milk intake on the HV's advice but left his portion sizes alone yesterday and he was much happier. Now he just needs to get moving ...!

[elkiedee]

I've wondered about my ds who for some reason hasn't been weighed since he was about 5 months. He was born at 7 lb 7 oz, lost too much weight after birth, was readmitted to hospital and fed up on formula and a little expressed milk but I never managed to reestablish breastfeeding properly. Once we finally got home again he grew rapidly but height as well as weight. I get paranoid when people comment on his size but at our last visit to health visitor (about 7 months) she called in colleagues to see how he'd grown but didn't weigh him (I expected her to).

Although I don't know what he weighs or how it's changed for about the last year now, I do think he's changed shape since he started walking, he's tall and broad/sturdy for 17 months but he looks large rather than chubby. And though he has some vests and tshirts we use in 18-24 months we're still using most of his 12-18 month clothes as well.

No health professionals have actually said to me he's overweight though.

At 10 months it seems unlikely that your child was overeating. If he's waking up hungry and grumpy when he was happy before, I'd go back to what you were doing. As you said, your dd was fat but turned into a slim healthy child.

[ivykaty44]

lola my dd was 28llb by the time she was 12 months - do have a look at my profile and see how she looked at the age of 14. DD is now 16 and 5f9" and a size skinny 8 and weighs around 8 stone.

By the time dd was 2 years old she was heavier and th HV told me she was fat, I explianed that she didn't have sweets and chocolate and eat a good diet and that I had been the same and she would grow upwards - she did another year went by and she put on no weight at all.

My second dd was the same weight born but although largeish she never tipped the scales quite so heavy and was around 26ILB by the time she got to 14 months (although she did have chocolate and sweties cos she was 2nd dd and they were around)

[seeker]

Just remembered - my slim and beautiful dd was so chubby when she was 6 months old that her legs wouldn't fit through the holes in one of those swim seat things. She was gigantic - and on breast milk alone. My brother suggested that I must be a walrus in disguise (they have the highest calorie milk of any mammal, apparently!) I ignored all the comments -and as I said she is now 12, slim, beautiful and bolshy.

[thatsnotmymonster]

I haven't personally but over the last year I have witnessed two enormously chubby babies grow into normal chubby looking toddlers.

[ginseng]

sorry just read his age!!

[ginseng]

i did, i had terrible comments from drs and everyone, i was so worried it was his thyroid so took him to a consultant paed at the hospital, anyway she told me not to worry, now he is 3 years old and very tall and a normal weight. As long as they are not having burgers and chips day in day out, babies have different growth patterns, some start out very big and even out, some are tiny and grow later. how old is your baby?

[Skramble]

Prior to walking a lot of babies get really chubby from what I have seen.

You have to be sensible about his diet though and make sure not to many bad habits creeping in.

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

I had a baby who ate too much (can babies eat too much? I thougght they ate untill they were no longer hungry?) and who was according to the HV who weighed her "at risk of becoming obese".

I stopped getting her weighed and decided that I could never win. Said obese baby is on my profile with her underweight older sister.

[seeker]

I would just keep feeding him what makes him happy (unless he is eating lard 3 times a day!) He sounds fine to me - he is a bit late maybe in the crawling department so once he starts he will burn off the ounces like nobody's business. Ignore the HV and carry on doing what you're doing.

[littlelamb]

I wouldn't worry at all. Am your health visitor even brought it up. If he's not crawling of course he is going to be a chubby little thing! My ds is the same, he is only 4 months but he is definately round, but dd was the same at that age and is a beanpole now. The time to worry would be when he starts moving around if some of the weigt deosn't shift. But good lord, my health visitor told me that the charts are well known to be a pile of wank and for the most part to ignore them. I hope she hasn't got you too worried

[ScaryHalloweenSquonkRAAR]

I don't have any particular experience, dd1 was massively heavy, but also very, very long. She was just big all over.

Personally, I do not believe that you can have an overweight baby.

Whey then start walking and running around they will lose most of their baby fat anyway and surely being a proper bouncing baby is a good thing?

[Dropdeadfred]

I wouldn't tweak his diet just yet...if you have already shown the HV his portion size and you know he doen't eat more than your dd did then just keep an eye on it...as you said, once he is crawling and expending more calories he should even out more(height and weight wise)